Broadcast media incorporating an element of user-participation has expanded greatly in recent years with the explosion of reality television (TV) and both in-screen and online user voting. Traditionally, the broadcast of live events such as sporting events has been linked with “offline” audience activities that occur after the user has finished watching the broadcast. More recently with simultaneous on-line commentary through Twitter® and other social media networks users have interacted with each other and with broadcasters/programme makers in the context of both live and pre-recorded broadcasts. With the prevalence of personal computing devices such as laptops, tablets, smartphones, and smart TVs, users can launch a browser on a choice of devices to go shopping online for a product featured in a broadcast advert that they have just seen on TV.
With so many options for interacting online in response to broadcast media, audiences already have access to a wide range of ways of participating in and reacting to broadcast programmes and other broadcast content.
However, in many cases the onus for such an interaction is still on the user to launch a browser, search for the relevant online retailer or other third party website and initiate an interaction from start to finish. This is time-consuming and therefore acts as a barrier leading to non-participation or abandonment of an interaction.
Furthermore, in the case of purchasing a product online, the user may have to enter card details in a browser session or use a particular device that has already been provisioned with an electronic wallet. If a wallet has not previously been set up, the user may have to perform a set-up process from scratch on additional devices, for example by pulling a wallet from the cloud to a tablet device. This will cause inconvenience and may take a considerable amount of time. Even if a wallet has previously been established on a device such as a smartphone, a tablet with a larger screen size may be more convenient, so the user may choose to repeat the set-up process on the tablet before proceeding.
Some user-interaction with a broadcast receiving device has been possible for many years, and typically comprises an in-screen voting scenario in which users respond to a broadcast call-to-action (CTA) such as “press red to vote” and use their remotes to interact with the live show. However, this type of interaction is limited because it is typically managed either by the broadcaster or the specific channel owner and there are usually only a limited range of interaction activities available such as voting for your favourite contestant in a so-called talent competition.